>> it looks to be very, very close at this hour. over the weekend, the chairman of the virginia state republican party told politico that a ken

kuchenell victory was in reach. if turnout's in the 30s, we're going to win. if it gets higher up in fairfax county, say like 40%, it's likely we won't win. well, tonight in blue fairfax county, virginia, shortly before 9:00, he posted, we are at 44.3% turnout. we will probably hit plus 45%. virginia republicans were right. the lower the turnout in places like fairfax county, the better for their candidate. as it happens, though, that did not work out for them tonight. joining us is steve carnaky. we saw an electorate in virginia that looked much more like 20 12 than in 2009. >> what we saw play out tonight in virginia was a repeat of

election night in virginia in 2012, where in 2012, romney was leading in the state in all the returns that were out there, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00. it's those big counties, like loudoun, prince william, fairfax county, arlington, right outside of washington, d.c., fairfax in particular, those numbers from fairfax ended up being overwhelming for terry mccullough. that's where the late surge came from. i'm looking at that map and looking at the 2012 map, and it's the same story. >> looking at the new jersey results, there's no surprise that chris christie was able to get his second term. i was surprised how bluntly he was campaigning for president on the night he got elected. looking at those results, is there anything that was surprising or anything that's important there? >> i think what you're saying is true. base think this is a speech they started writing about a year ago. the democratic party did not

invest in this election. the democratic party nationally and the state level gave up a year ago in this raise. really worked this thing. she was out there every day, and that is a hard thing to do. the thing is, barbara bono only had this nomination because her party gave up on it. if the democratic party decided they could win this, somebody else would have been in that position. it is the story of chris christie's governorship. the democrats, who formed an alliance with him, from south jersey and other pockets of the state, they got it through. they went to sleep on jon corzine in 2002 and they were a nonfactor this year.

that's one of the stories here in new jersey. >> in terms of the way this translates to the next round of politics, i've never understood why the size of chris christie's margin in his re-election effort would say something important. he did everything he could to drive up the margin. obviously the democrats sort of folded. that helped. but 6-1 he outspent the democrat he was running against. he went to those great pains, cost the state $24 million to make sure he wasn't going to be voted on at the same time cory booker was being voted on. >> i think it's a psychological thing. what they're selling here is electability, that he has something so unique among republicans, it's been more than 40 years since they elected a

republican to the u.s. senate, it just sounds more impressive. it's a psychological thing. but the flip side, if you look in virginia, the bar was set about a week ago for this reason. we were all talking a week ago, the tea party is going to have to get the message now, and they still lose. and they are now able to stay, it was close. so the tea party is -- >> they're going to call it a win. our loss was kind of a win. steve, great to have you here. we'll be right back.

for most of the news in the country today, it's obviously about it being election day. but one big piece of politics that was not about it being election day was about marriage. the state assembly in illinois today voted in favor of legal recognition of same-sex marriages in illinois. that vote in the state of assembly today puts illinois on track to be the 15th state in the nation that will legally recognize marriages by straight and gay couples. this is the map of marriage equality in the country right now. with this vote today, illinois

becomes the largest new state in the heart of the country to recognize marriage equality after minnesota and iowa. keep an eye on hawaii and new mexico. the debate is on in hawaii. the vote could come at any minute. in new mexico t matter is in court right now. illinois went today. before today, before this big vote in illinois today, the last state to move forward on marriage equality was new jersey just a couple of weeks ago. the state legislature in new jersey had passed a bill to recognize marriage equality in the garden state, but chris christie vetoed it. when the courts in new jersey said marriages could go ahead in the state, the governor appealed their ruling and vowed to fight. but then after the state supreme court weighed in against governor christie again, he did

cave and let marriages go ahead in new jersey over his objections. tonight, of course, he was re-elected in new jersey by the large margin that was expected. new jersey by large disagreed with their governor on his marriage veto but liked him well enough to give him a second term. new jersey voters did not agree with their governor on the minimum wage. just like with marriage, the legislature passed a bill to raise the minimum wage, but he vetoed it. tonight, voters overruled their governor and voted statewide to raise the minimum wage that governor his veto, new jersey voted overwhelmingly to reelect him anything. that kind of alchemy, makes this a great night for chris christie, with all those things

against him he still wins and wins big in his home state. so yeah, new jersey, you may think you have just voted for chris christie again, what you have launched is the chris christie for president campaign. and you have launched it in exactly the way that chris christie wanted it to be launched and because he has an angel in heaven somewhere that owes him favors, today was the day that senator rand paul decided to meltdown, and he decided to meltdown to the new york times on the record. after a week, now, of plagiarism revelations about rand paul, he sat for an interview with the new york times today in which he said he's going to change the way he handles speeches and

publications if it will make people leave he the hell alone. i wouldn't normally say h-e double hockey sticks in the show, but that's what he said. he said that his office had, quote, made mistakes. then there was also the senator's explanation for why this has all happened. and this explanation may turn out to be a real problem for the senator if he does ever seek higher office. this was the explanation. mr. paul attributed the sloppiness to the hectic life of a senator in high demand. things are done quickly and in a hurry. and sometimes i get some things sent to me while giving a speech. i get something on my phone saying read this in 20 minutes

for approval. we need to get this stuff earlier, but it's hard, mr. paul said. we probably take on more than we should be doing. if you can not handle the work load for a once a week column for a penny saver paper, that's a hard admission from which to kick off your case to the american people that you deserve a promotion to president. why should we think you can handle that? it should also be noted that the washington times tonight ended their relationship with senator paul. he will not be writing for that newspaper anymore. so yes, the day goes to governor chris christie, and he is not only reelected, he is apparently as of tonight down one major rival for the 2016 job that he

wants way more than the job he just got tonight. [ female announcer ] 1 hour to go, 1 hour to whiten.

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election night tonight has been mostly dominated by the two marquis matchups, the governor's

races in new jersey and virginia. there's other fascinating results still pouring in. new jersey also voted tonight to raise that state's minimum wage. new jersey's minimum wage had been the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. but now it will go up to $8.25 an hour and there will be annual cost of living adjustments. governor chris christie had vetoed that, but tonight voters vetoed his veto. so the worst paid workers in new jersey are going to get a raise. in colorado, voters were asked if they wanted to have a tax on pot to finance the construction of public schools and pay for things having to do with the regulation of now legal marijuana in the state.

with 79% of the vote in, it looks like that one is going toward a yes in colorado. and in houston, texas, get ready to say good-bye to the astrodome. they have rejected a measure that would turn the astrodome into a convention center. that probably means that the 1960s era sports complex means that it will be demolished. who says elections don't have consequences. we've got much more ahead. stay with us.

in the great state of maine, republican governor le page used the day today -- he said it was the biggest campaign in history. kind of a miniature presidential campaign. he wants to be governor again. ahead of this biggest candidate event ever, this recreated republican convention, they said his remarks would be brief. and all the political reporters in the state of maine said ah, in deep disappointment. because if he has accomplished nothing else in his time in office he has managed to establish himself as the raging

id of conservative american governors. >> you take it and put it in the microwave, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. in worse cases some women might have little beards, but we don't want to do that. we the people have been told there is no choice. you must buy health insurance or pay the new guess tau poe, the irs. >> we apologize. >> to who? >> who's upset? >> the anti-defamation league. >> it was never intended to offend anyone. and if someone's offended, then they ought to be [ bleep ] mad at the federal government. >> is that an apology? >> what would you like to do? >> we're about to put on screen

what the governor said in response. and some of our viewers who may find it distasteful might want to hit the mute button and turn away for the next 30 seconds or so. he said senator jackson claims to be for the people but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing vaseline. when he was asked if he realized that some people might find that comment offensive he said good, it ought to because i've been taking it for two years. >> kids, the governor's on tv tonight. viewer discretion is advised. he said he wanted to fly over to the press building and blow it up. he has been amazing since the moment he became governor. he ordered the taking down of a mural off the state department of labor saying he disagreed

with the political implications of the artwork. that led some people in maine to put the mural back up by projecting it on the outside of the state house. last month during the federal government shutdown he declared a state of emergency in maine that gave him new and unspecified powers that he had never had before. the governor kept the state of emergency going for two days after the shutdown ended, until democrats pointed out, that, hey, you know what, big guy, maybe the jig is up. he made headlines for saying nearly half the able-bodied people in maine do not work. he said 47%. 47% is a number the republicans should retire from their repertoire. if you're going to make up a statistic, pick 48 or 46, but he picked 47. it's totally not true, but

totally typical for the amazing paul le page. he has been governor for just under three years. he's been seen as a part of the tea party wave that swept the country that year. he has tea party support. but his victory was more complicated than that. in 2010, on election night, the main governor's race was so close that year, and the race was so crowded that year that it couldn't be called on election night. ultimately the man who got elected that night, paul le page got the seat, even though he only got 38% of the vote. it was a three-way field. paul le page walked the democrat on the ballot. the person he had a harder time beating was a leading independent in the race. so the democrat took 19%.

the independent took 36%, paul le page took 38%. le page was nowhere near a majority. and since then as his amazing raging governorship has unfolded, that winning with 38% of the vote thing has reminded some mainers to remind others that they did not vote for that guy. they by a large majority chose somebody else when they went to vote for governor. his approval ratings are about the same now as the results were then, which is to say kind of low. he's not very popular. he very likely got into office because of that weird dynamic of that three-way race back in 2010. so now he's running for reelection. how about a replay of that exact same dynamic. the field includes republican paul le page, again, and that same moderate independent guy from last time who's running again.

now, though, the democrat is a different candidate. the democrat this time is a popular six-term congressman named mike michaud. it shows him leading but not by much, only by four points. if it was a two-way race, the democrat would be leading by 15. but with the independent guy running, too, and a three-way race, the democrat lead shrinks to four. if it is not a two-way race -- and right now it's not -- it may very well be a different story a year from right now. three-way race is how maine got paul le page in the first place. the paul le page governorship is amazing enough as a spectacle. the contest to try replace him which launched tonight was a

fascinating cannot look, cannot look away type of campaign. that was all true before this happened. saying he wanted to put an end to what he called a whisper campaign, congressman mike michaud came out. he came out as gay after a public lifetime in the closet. including six terms in congress. should he manage to win this race against paul le page, democrat mike michaud would be the first openly gay governor in the united states since 2004. he is hoping to make a lot more history. this is his first national interview since coming out the maine papers this weekend.

thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> let me ask you the big strategic question about running for governor. if we are looking at another three-party race including elliot cutler again, that's how le page got there in the first place. how do you plan to avoid a repeat? >> 2014 is a different time than 2010. the other two candidates ran before, i have not run for governor before. when you look at the candidates, i'm a difficult kind of candidate. i won six elections for the united states congress, overwhelmingly, even last year when it was supposed to be my tough reelection effort, but this race is much different. i come from the second district which is not as difficult for a democrat to win. so i feel really good about the race, we're going to run an effective campaign, talk about

the issues important for the people in the state of maine. >> in terms of your decision this weekend to write that op ed, which was in the press herald and the bangor paper, you wanted to let everybody know you are gay. and you wanted to set the record straight so to speak. what can you tell us about the timing of that decision? obviously, you've been able to serve maine as a congressman for a very long time and a state legislator before that without talking about this publicly. why now? >> it never was an issue before. i've always ran for office talking about the issues. this was actually the first campaign that it had become an issue, and, you know, i decided after hearing a little bit about it, they questioned my sexuality and i thought i'd put it out to the voters in the state of

maine, yes, i'm gay. what's wrong with that? fact of the matter is punch a time clock in the mill for 29 years and a member of congress for 12 years. my personal life never affected how i do my job, and it definitely is not going to affect how i do my job if i'm elected governor. i want to get it out of the way to talk about the issues. maine is a state hurting because of the poor direction our current governor has led the state. thousands of people in maine are not going to get covered because of a veto that the governor put forth. and the fact of the matter is, it would save maine over $600,000 by that expansion of medicaid here for voters, i mean constituents in main.

jobs and the economy is very important. yes, we do have down employment rate, it's been going down. but it doesn't mean people are not getting jobs. it means they're not collecting unemployment. so we have a lot of issues here in maine that we need to focus on, and that's why i decided for governor. it concerns me the direction we're being led by the current administration and i look forward to talking to the voters about the issues. >> when you said that you were hearing that your sexual orientation was becoming an issue, not by your choice but that other people were starting to talk about it because were you running for governor, do you know that that was being done by people who were trying to use it against you? people trying to say it was a bad thing and a reason not to vote for you? >> i have no idea who's doing it, whether it was an individual or organization. all i know is that there is speculation out there that i was

gay. and i wanted to be out front, be honest, yes, i am, but what should that matter? i'm the same person today that i was last week, you know, last year, and the year before. i'm mike, and i want to talk about the issues. so it was very important for me to put that on the table so we can move on and talk about issues. i do not intend to make the governor's personal life or the independent's personal life part of their campaign. and hopefully they'll do the same for me. mainers are due respect. and i hope we can get on the table and move on. >> candidate for governor now. stay in touch with us. it's going to be fascinating to watch. >> we'll be right back.

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happy election night, woo-hoo. thousands of voters went to the polls to pick new mayors.

now this is a technical political science term, forgive me. among all those races, the one race that is the most crazy pants of all is the one in minneapolis where they had 35 candidates to choose from. among that crazy pants sea of hopefuls, residents had the choice of somebody who represented the occu-pirate party. occupy, occu-pirate and somebody named bob carney again. one was businesswoman and independent stephanie woodruff who put out this campaign ad a few days ago in which she was dressed only in saran wrap.

she's making a point about transparency in government, and saran wrap is see through. so there you go. the filing fee to get into the race was only 20 bucks. so maybe that adds to the crowded field. minneapolis residents get to vote for their top three choices for mayor. you don't just vote for one person. you vote for three. you pick your top three choices, number them one, two, three. that essentially does the runoff for you if that's need. it eliminates the spoiler effect of minor candidates helping to elect major candidates who they don't like, ahem, ralph nader. as of this hour it looks like betsy hodges is in the lead with 99% of the vote in.

in miami, the most viable challenger dropped out. so the sitting mayor will keep his seat. also in florida, in st. petersburg, the democratic challenger has taken the mayor's seat. that represents the first time a sitting mayor has lost his seat in 20 years. in detroit right now the job of being mayor in that city is basically a ceremonial position. detroit doesn't actually have democracy anymore, but tonight they did go through the motions and awarded the key to the city? they awarded very little authority to mike duggan. he beat out the county sheriff named napoleon to get the job in

detroit. big election in boston tonight, there was no incumbent mayor running. the new mayor will be martin walsh who was probably the more leftier of the two democrats who faced off in that race. in new york city it looks like gracie mansion will have a democratic mayor for the first time since 1993. bill de blasio over joe lhota. all of them being elected mayor tonight have a lot ahead of them. they have been struggling with budgets and to pay employees. some will be great at the job. some will not. being mayor is tough. the mayor of the great city of toronto, the fourth largest city

in north america, today he handed every mayor in america and every mayor on earth the at least i'm not that guy card to be used really at any time. no matter what scandal happens to you, it will never be like yours. he was a big city mayor who was forced by circumstances to say this. >> i do not use crack cocaine, nor am i an addict of crack cocaine. as for a video, i cannot comment on a video that i've never seen or does not exist. >> now we know that the crack video does exist because the toronto police have announced that they have it in the possess of the department. now it's harder for him to deny being caught on tape smoking crack since the police have the tape of him smoking crack. now toronto mayor as of today, toronto mayor rob ford will be known forever as this guy.

>> do you smoke crack cocaine? >> exactly, yes, i have smoked crack cocaine, do i? am i an addict? no. have i tried it? probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably about a year ago. you asked the question. i answered the question properly. all i can do now is to apologize and move on. >> it was all part of a drunken stupor. that kind of makes it better. a drunken stupor on the part of the world's fourth largest city who sees no reason to resign. best wishes for a successful term. and for toronto mayor rob ford whose standards of behavior you'll be hard-pressed to surpass no matter how badly you act in office, there is only one thing to say tonight -- and that is, you're welcome.

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nbc news has projected the winner in the virginia governor's race. it's mcauliffe over cuccinelli. when you've read the beltway press about this race all along,

you wonder how mcauliffe was doing so disproportionately well among women? is terry just an androgenous name, maybe people think he's a woman. why would he have such a strong preference in this governor's race. it could be a matter of policy. the last virginia governor's race before this one was in 2009 when the state elected a deeply conservative man named bob mcdonald. he had written a thesis but how policy should be used to punish homosexual, cohabitators and fornicators. he tried to play down that part of his background as a candidate for governor, but once he got elected he and the republicans

got to work on just those issues. part of his legacy as he leaves the governorship is the raft of new anti-abortion regulations that have started shutting down clinics across that state. even before that, the virginia republicans moved to force unnecessary ultrasound exams on any woman who wanted to try to get an abortion in the state of virginia. remember the vaginal probes? if you can read this, your government is too close. small government. this violation, courtesy of the virginia republican party. or this one -- i can see the white house from here. that's not supposed to be the vaginal ultrasound probe talking, it's supposed to be bob mcdonnell. but, you know, forced medley unnecessary ultrasounds ordered by the government, that proved to be a wand too far for the governor.

>> i have to ask you about this red hot story that's gotten so many women fired up. >> virginia drew national attention for the proposal -- >> this was an abortion bill that would have mandated that women get what's called a transvaginal ultrasound if they were getting an abortion. >> if were you educating yourself on this bill, did you originally not realize -- >> it was an invasive procedure. >> this wasn't my bill. >> normally a governor would review these hundreds and hundreds of bills when they get to your desk. you're so busy, you don't read every legislator's bill. >> actually, it was your bill, sir, in the effect that you co-sponsored it. and you signed the bill. so he was not picked as the vice president nominee.

and the nickname kind of stuck, even as his governorship dissolved in a corruption and bribery scandal. they'll make a decision on whether to criminally indict bob mcdonnell between now and thanksgiving. the national press have been mystified in this gender gap. turns out cuccinelli is not that much of a mystery. he is the harder to spell opponent. even after shutting down the abortion clinics, even after the forced ultrasounds, on top of that republicans are asking people to support this man that wouldn't just ban all abortion, it would ban hormonal forms of birth control. there was a normal conservative republican, a mainstream republican available to run in the form of bill boulding, but cuccinelli outmaneuvered, and through that, the virginia

republican party got themselves not only ken cuccinelli, they got a statewide slate of republican candidates. he ran against jackson. he said gay people are sick, the military has been homosexualized and president obama seems like the anti-christ. this one says that anybody who suffers a miss carriage must report that miss carriage to the local sheriff. you know, small government. history says republicans should have had this election in virginia in a walk. democratic president for more than 30 years, that means it

would be guarantees that the -- virginia women are so strongly opposed to the way republicans are governing that they have changed that streak. the republican party doesn't seem to recognize that this was about policy. the final list of candidates who cuccinelli campaigned with, the people who he tried to turn people around to his way of thinking on. his last name of big name surrogates were senator marco rubio, anti-abortion guy, rand paul, bobby jindal, mike huckabee, rick santorum. those were his last list. where is this gender gap coming from? how did the republicans lose this governorship?